Chess arrived
in Burma in the 8th century via the kingdoms of Arakan and Mon which had the
closest links with the motherland of chess, India. In the 9th century specific
rules - different from Chaturanga[1]- were established and, as Pali texts confirm, Burmese chess
became quite fashionable as a court game during the Pagan period (1044-1287).
In the 17th century, a Dutch traveler reported about a unique variety of chess
widely played in Burma. However, it would seem that the Burmese never made an
attempt to harmonize the rules. Thus, diverse rules were practiced not only in
the various geographical regions, but also within the different social levels
of Burmese society. Even when the first official championships in traditional
Burmese chess were arranged after the Second World War, the rules selected for
this special event were not generally accepted. Now international chess has replaced
the Burmese variety almost everywhere and only few people can remember the traditional
game and its rules.

2. Pieces and Board:

When chess
debuted Burma, it was perceived as a quasi-religious game symbolizing the
battle between good and evil. To this extent, it reflected the Ramayana,
the ancient Hindu myth of Rama and Sita, in a Buddhist
guise. One of Gauthama's pre-incarnations, King Rama (or Yama
as the Burmese call him), with the help of Hanuman, the King of the Monkeys,
defeats Da Tha Gi Ri, the ten-headed demon[2],
who abducted Yama's beautiful wife, Sita (known as Thida in the Burmese
version of the legend).

Pieces from the
oldest chess sets clearly display this mythical context. The black king (Min-gyi),
sometimes shown with a green face, sometimes with a green robe (never completely
green) is the hero Yama whilst his counterpart, the red Min-gyi, is seen as the Da
Tha Gi Ri. The black pawns (Ne) are carved as monkeys
symbolizing Hanuman's army and the red Ne are demons. The black general (Sit-ke)
could be Hanuman as his human body bears a monkey face. The red Sit-ke
is clearly a powerful demon, however no specific name is attributed to him. The
horses (Myin) and the elephants (Sin) are frequently mounted with riders.
The riders of the red pieces are demons whilst monkeys ride the black Myin
and Sin.
The chariots (Yattah) have no apparent links to the legend, and look more
like European rooks than chariots.

More recent
pieces no longer reflect the Yama myth and symbolize only King, General,
Knight, Elephant, Rook and Pawns.

The board is
the standard eight-by-eight format, but often has additional markings on it.
Though most of the various symbols are merely decorative, lines marking the
long diagonals, which are frequently present, are used for Ne promotion.

3. Rules:

As noted
earlier no standardized rules exist for traditional Burmese chess. Therefore
the rules introduced below will reflect the ones established by the Burmese
Chess Federation in preparation for the first national competitions after the
Second World War. Main differences with other variations are primarily
concerned with the opening of the game and the Ne promotion (both of which will
be mentioned in those sections dealing with the respective rules).

3.1 Aim of the game

The objective
of Burmese chess, as in international chess, is to mate the opponent's king
(Min-gyi). However, in contrast to international chess a move leading to
stalemate (i.e. the opponent cannot make any regular move) is not allowed.
Unlike many Asian variations, but similar to international chess, no "bare
king rule" exists.

3.2. Movement of
pieces:

The Min-gyi
moves in the same way as the modern king and, like the latter may not be placed
en prise or sacrificed. The only
difference with international chess is that no castling rule exists.

The Sit-ke
moves diagonally one square at a time. Hence it is much less powerful than the
Myin or the Sin.

The Myin
moves as the modern knight.

The Sin
moves one square at a time either diagonally or forward. It seems that Myin and
Sin are of equal value. Nevertheless Burmese players appear somewhat reluctant
to exchange a Myin against a Sin.

The Yattah
moves as the modern rook and is by far the most powerful piece.

The Ne
moves as the modern pawn, but may not take a double step for its first move.
Therefore no en passant rule exists.

3.3. Placement of
pieces:

At the first
glance Burmese chess seems to be quite unusual as each player may decide as to
how he will arrange his pieces behind his Ne (pawn) line. However when
evaluating this rule, one soon recognizes that the concept differs only
slightly from international chess where usually the first moves are played
following standard openings. The difference is that in international chess the
opening is played move by move whilst in Burmese chess the first player (Red)
arranges his pieces and the other player (Black) answers with a counter arrangement.
To illustrate this concept one could imagine two persons playing international
chess commencing their game after White has, for instance, arranged his pieces
to the Queen's Gambit opening and Black to the Nimzowitsch-Indian Defence[3].
Following this example the move 0-0 / Pd5xPc4, which is usually the 7th, would
be the first one.

A few rules
have to be followed in placing the pieces. The red Ne must be placed on A-3,
B-3, C-3, D-3, E-4, F-4, G-4 and H-4 whilst the black Ne have to occupy A-5,
B-5, C-5, D-5, E-6, F-6, G-6 and H-6. The first rank of each player is
exclusively reserved for his two Yattah. Therefore the red Yattah must be
placed on the first line (A-1 to H-1) whilst the black Yattah have to be set on
the last line (A-8 to H-8). None of the two black Yattah can be arranged in a
way that it is directly opposite the red Min-gyi, i.e. a black Yattah cannot be
put on the same column as the red Min-gyi, if there is not at least one red
piece, other than a red Ne, in-between them. All other pieces can be placed
wherever the respective player wants to position them. In other words, the red
pieces, other than Ne and Yattah, may occupy any square on the lines A2 To H2
and E3 to H3, whilst Black can arrange his pieces from A7 to H7 and from A6 to
D6.

It would seem
that Burmese players did not pay too much attention to possible variations of
one beginning constellation. At least they did not follow the example of their
colleagues playing international chess who found particular names for even the
slightest modification of an opening. Thus, in Burmese chess any variation
bears the name of the original beginning constellation whenever the main
characteristics of the latter are given. For instance, the peculiarity of the
Myin Set Pyin Kwet opening is that the two Myin cover each other. It is not of
major importance where the two Myin are exactly located and how the other
pieces are arranged (see diagram below, where both, Red and Black organized
their forces to the Myin Set Pyin Kwet openings).

8

Ya

Ya

7

Mi

Si

My

6

Si

My

Sk

Ne

Ne

Ne

Ne

5

Ne

Ne

Ne

Ne

4

Ne

Ne

Ne

Ne

3

Ne

Ne

Ne

Ne

Sk

Si

My

2

Si

My

Mi

1

Ya

Ya

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

John Gollon
describes another form of opening: "After the pawns are placed on the
board, the players alternatively place one piece at a time. A player must place
his piece behind his pawn line or on it. If he Chooses to place a piece on a
square already occupied by one of his pawns, he replaces the pawn with the
piece and places the pawn within his territory on another turn. When all the
pieces are on the board, a player may change his arrangement by removing a
piece on one turn and placing it elsewhere on another. When one player finally
makes a move, the other must cease altering his own arrangement, place the last
of his men on the board (one per turn as before), and begin moving
normally."[8]

The most common
form of beginning a Burmese chess game is reported by Burmese who witnessed it
in their youth. According to these sources, the two players arranged their
pieces clandestinely behind a curtain which divided the chess board straight in
the middle. After the players had finished arranging their pieces the curtain
was removed and the game commenced. This variation is interesting in that a
certain element of chance is added to an otherwise entirely strategic game.

3.4.Promotion
of Ne:

On reaching any
square on either diagonal line of the board, a Ne may be promoted to a Sit-ke,
if the player has no Sit-ke on the board. If a Ne is already on a diagonal, and
if the player has no Sit-ke on the board, he may promote the Ne instead of moving
with such a promotion counting as a turn.

Because the
Sit-ke is, by definition, not much more powerful than a Ne itself, the possibility
of Ne promotion seems to be of minor importance. Thus players are reluctant to
promote a Ne at the cost of wasting a move or losing tempo.[9]
Furthermore Ne advancing towards the diagonals are not perceived as an imminent
danger, at least not as long as the Sit-ke of the same colour is still in the
game. Hence it is apparent that the movements of Ne, even during the end-game,
cannot be considered as important as those of the pawns in international chess.
It seems that the further Ne advance, the less dangerous they become, since
they are doomed to inactivity when they reach the last rank (the only exception
being the four corner squares, where they can still be promoted).

John Gollon
narrates a different version concerning Ne promotion for which, however,
Burmese sources could not provide any confirmation. According to him the Sit-ke
replacing the Ne "may be placed either on the promotion square (the square
in which the pawn reached the long diagonal) or on any square adjacent to
it."[10]
Similarly unconfirmed is the rule described by Edward Falkener[11],
namely that "the Ne are promoted to Yattah, regardless of the number of
Yattah a player already has." Though both variations are questionable, it
would appear that the game certainly moves faster when these rules (in
particular the latter one) are used.

4. Sample games:

The following
three sample games are taken from a collection of games the famous champion U
Thein Zaw[12]
played in several contests.[13]

[11]Games
Ancient and Oriental and How to Play Them (quoted in John Gollon, Chess
Variations, 194)

[12]Born
1954 in Kon Chan Gone he graduated in 1977 and holds a B.Sc. in Geology. He
works as teacher and has been playing international chess since 1968. He
started playing Burmese chess in 1973 and won the national championship in the
years 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1987.

Comments

Burmese Traditional Chess. An article that discusses chess as it was played in Burma. (8x8, Cells: 64)

Ed wrote on 2014-08-17 UTC

I have noticed another online site for Myanmar (Burmese) Traditional,
Chess: http://mmchess.com/home.php, and that it has an English-language
interface. Does anyone have experience playing the computer or online
opponents there?

I noticed that there is an online site for Myanmar (Burmese) Traditional,
Chess: http://www.sittuyin.com/ , and that it has an English-language
interface. The only drawback is that one must be a Facebook user to logon
to play; since I lack a Facebook account, I cannot say anything about
whether this is a good site to find opponents or not. As I debate getting
access, I wonder if anyone else has experience of this site, the rule
set(s) used, and the numbers of opponents (or best times) one is likely to
find.

Yes, and I have now increased the relative value of the Elephant and removed the small board since it was too small. The Elephant is still less valuable than the knight, but the difference is not that big. The Elephant (Silver General in Shogi) is surprisingly powerful, despite its slowness, as it is a strong defensive piece, but it is also powerful in mating attacks. To be certain that you have the latest version, please download again.
/Mats